BAGHDAD, Iraq – A suicide bomber detonated explosives alongside a fuel tanker in a town south of Baghdad Saturday, setting off a powerful explosion that killed at least 60 people and wounded 85.
The bomber struck on the main street of Musayyib at about 8 p.m., just as store keepers were closing up, children were running in the street and Muslim worshippers were leaving a nearby Shiite mosque, said Capt. Muthanna Khaled Ali, a police spokesman.
The attacker, wearing a vest of explosives, apparently watched the fuel tanker roll down the street and detonated the bomb as it approached the mosque.
Apartment buildings collapsed, and sharp metal pieces of cars flew through the air, Ali said. Ambulance sirens still sounded at 11 p.m., and thick black smoke filled the air, he said.
The area lies about 40 miles south of the capital on the Euphrates River in the “triangle of death,” where many Shiite travelers on their way to the southern holy cities of Karbala and Najaf have been kidnapped and killed.
Families of more than 30 of the wounded sat in the hallways of one hospital in Hillah, about 20 miles south of Musayyib. Some were in shock, and others sobbed and screamed, said Dr. Nawfel Salman, who was among the doctors caring for the wounded at Hillah Educational Hospital.
There weren’t enough operating tables to handle all the critically wounded, he said. Some had burns across 50 percent of their bodies. Most of the wounded were men, Salman said.
In other violence in Iraq on Saturday, three British soldiers and two Iraqi translators working for them were among at least 16 people killed, the U.S. military and Iraqi authorities said. The day’s deaths followed at least 10 suicide car bombs on Friday.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari embarked on a trip to Iran to rebuild ties between the two countries. It was the first trip by an Iraqi prime minister to Iran since the 1980-1988 war soured diplomatic relations.
Also Saturday, the U.S. military announced charges against 11 American soldiers suspected of assaulting seven men they captured during an attack on a power plant in Baghdad.
The U.S. troops facing assault-related charges are all from the same Task Force Baghdad unit of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, said Lt. Col. Clifford Kent, division spokesman. Charges were filed against the troops Wednesday, Kent said. A soldier from the unit reported the incident on June 20, he said.
The military did not identify the soldiers and released few details of the allegations.
Kent said the unit responded to an attack on the frequently targeted power plant in Doura, a south Baghdad district that’s become a hotbed of insurgent activity in recent months. The alleged misconduct occurred “at the point of capture,” not at a U.S.-run detention facility, Kent said. None of the seven detainees needed medical attention after the incident, he added. Only one of the men remains in U.S. custody.
The 11 soldiers – all men – were charged with dereliction of duty, Kent said. Some of them also were charged with maltreatment of a person under control, assault and making a false official statement. One soldier was charged with obstruction of justice. The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division will determine whether any of them will face a court-martial, the military’s equivalent of a trial.
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An unknown group called the Imam Hussein Brigade claimed the early morning roadside bombing that killed the British soldiers and translators and injured three other people in the city of Amarah. An Internet statement could not be immediately verified.
The casualties were rare for the relatively quiet British-controlled southern region, whose mostly Shiite Muslim residents are generally more supportive of the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. The group’s namesake was an important Shiite figure, suggesting members are Shiite Muslims. Rival Sunni Muslims are the backbone of Iraq’s insurgency.
The Imam Hussein Brigade also reportedly claimed the assassination of the Kurdish Judge Nurredin Ahmed Friday night in the normally quiet city if Nasiriyah.
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(Fadel reports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Hannah Allam and Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondent Alaa al Baldawy contributed to this report.)
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(c) 2005, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
AP-NY-07-16-05 1800EDT
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